OP0192-PARE GENERE DONNA – THE COMMUNICATION PROJECT ON GENDER MEDICINE AND AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES, SUPPORTING WOMEN WITH RHEUMATIC AND DERMATOLOGIC AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
Authors: L. Faravelli, A. Celano, V. Corazza, S. Tonolo
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2023)

<h3>Background</h3> The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Gender-specific Medicine as the study of how biological and socioeconomic and cultural differences influence people's health. (1) In autoimmune diseases (AD), particularly rheumatic and dermatologic ones, Gender makes the difference. Among millions of people affected worldwide, 80% are Women. (2) AD can arise more frequently in childbearing age, can impact female fertility and pregnancy outcomes, with consequences on the overall quality of life, both for the people affected and their families and caregivers. <h3>Objectives</h3> Genere Donna is a project aimed at setting up an awareness campaign on Gender Medicine focused on rheumatic and dermatologic autoimmune diseases. It spreads and updates a clear information, validated by experts, about Gender Medicine and rheumatic and dermatologic ADs, to improve knowledge, promoting patients' empowerment and the importance of a gender approach in Public Health. <h3>Methods</h3> Genere Donna has been launched in July 2021. The website www.generedonna.it and the social media profiles are the heart of the project, raising awareness also through adv campaigns (SEM and social media) and ad-hoc content marketing. The close teamwork of the main Italian patients' associations ANMAR (Associazione Nazionale Malati Reumatici Onlus), APMARR (Associazione Nazionale Persone con Malattie Reumatologiche e Rare aps) and APIAFCO (Associazione Psoriasici Italiani Amici della Fondazione Corazza) and some authoritative experts KOLs in AD (5 physicians and a welfare expert) is the key for success. Genere Donna is supported by a digital communication agency. <h3>Results</h3> Over 16 months of activity, there were about 160K website users (70% female, 56% of them are 18-44 years old), over 6.6Mln reach and over 220K interactions on social media, and a strong social community of around 27K people was developed. Over 210 questions received through the "Ask the Expert" service. Genere Donna recently received the patronage from SIR-Società Italiana di Reumatologia (Italian Society of Rheumatology) and SIDeMaST, Società Italiana di Dermatologia e Malattie Sessualmente Trasmesse (Italian Society of Dermatology). <h3>Conclusion</h3> The strong need of clear and verified information around Gender Medicine is testified by the wide number of social media interactions and website visits. The good results reached by Genere Donna up to now and many positive comments coming from the community push the project ahead in the future, to be more and more near to the patients affected by rheumatic and dermatologic ADs. <h3>Reference</h3> [1] Istituto Superiore di Sanità, EpiCentro. Gender Medicine. Available at: https://www.epicentro.iss.it/en/gender-medicine/ Last Access: January 2023. 2) Carlo Selmi, Fortissime per natura. Piemme, 2020. <h3>Acknowledgements</h3> Genere Donna counts on an educational grant from UCB Pharma Italy, main sponsor, Laboratoires Bailleul and Terme di Comano, other sponsors. <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None Declared.